Preamble detector

ABSTRACT

A wireless receiver has a preamble detection apparatus and method which waits until the expected arrival of a beacon frame, after which power is cyclically applied during a preamble detection interval and a sleep interval until a preamble is detected. The preamble detector has a first mode with a longer preamble detection interval and a second mode with a shorter preamble detection interval. During the preamble detection interval, power is applied to receiver components, and during the sleep interval, power is not applied. The duration of the preamble detection interval is equal to a preamble sensing interval, and if a preamble is detected, power remains applied to a preamble processor for a preamble processing interval. The duration of the sleep interval is the duration of a long preamble less the sum of two times the preamble detection interval plus the preamble processing interval. Phase lock loop (PLL) power is applied a PLL settling time prior to and during the preamble detection interval.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for low powerpreamble detection in a receiver which is in a power-down mode but whichperiodically wakes up to respond to periodic beacons which defineavailable receive or transmit intervals.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Under the wireless local area network (WLAN) IEEE Standard 802.11,wireless stations (STA) and access points (AP) may operate in aninfrastructure mode. Infrastructure mode defines a set of communicationprotocols, one of which is an association protocol for a station to joinan access point, another of which provides for an access point whichoperates continuously to periodically communicate with a station whichhas the characteristic of being in a power-down (sleep) mode, where thestation periodically is activated into a power-up (wake-up) state toreceive a Delivery Traffic Indication Map (DTIM) which indicates whetherthere are packets to be transmitted to the newly-awakened station fromthe AP. This DTIM power-save protocol conserves a significant amount ofstation power by only consuming power when the station is in a power-upstate (the interval when power is applied to the receiver circuits)shortly prior to the expected arrival of a beacon frame, throughout thebeacon frame, and where the power-up state occurs during definedintervals related to periodic beacon intervals. A typical beaconinterval is 100 ms. In one example prior art embodiment, the wireless APtransmits a frame known as Delivery Traffic Indication Map (DTIM) andthe STA responds indicating how often the station will wake up to checkthe beacon frame to receive or transmit to the AP. According to the802.11 power-save protocol for stations, the station is in a power-upstate shortly prior to the expected arrival of the AP beacon frame, andthe STA stays remains powered on long enough during this throughout thebeacon interval to determine whether the traffic indication map (TIM) ofthe beacon frame indicates there are receive packets destined to the AP,and if so, the station STA remains in a power-up state until the packetsare received from the AP, as indicated by the TIM. A prior art stationalso remains powered up until the arrival of a beacon frame. The TIMincludes a header part indicating station assignments and a bitmap partindicating whether a particular station has traffic to receive.

A problem arises in congested networks, where the STA may wake up at theappointed beacon interval, but the beacon frame is delayed intransmission by the transmitting AP because of network congestion (suchas from an associated station transmitting, same-channel interference,or a station or other access point on the same WLAN channel is nearbyand interfering), in which case the AP waits for a clear channel beforetransmitting the beacon frame. During either of these disruptions, theSTA remains powered up and awaiting reception of the delayed WLAN beaconframe, causing unwanted power consumption. Additionally, each beaconframe must be received and the TIM examined to determine whether the APhas a packet to transmit to the station, including during long intervalswhere there are no packets to be received from the AP. It is desired toprovide a power saving apparatus and method which provides improvedpower savings in a station operative in congested networks where thestation wakes up and the expected beacon is delayed because of networkcongestion or interferers, and to provide an apparatus and method forreducing receiver power consumption during beacon frame reception.

Another problem for stations infrequently receiving packet traffic isthat the power consumed during the time the station is in a wake-upstate and waiting for a delayed beacon frame to arrive may be theprimary power drain for the station receiver. In this circumstance, thetime required to accurately detect the beacon preamble becomes asignificant power drain. Accordingly, it is desired to reduce the powerconsumption of the station during the duration of time waiting for adelayed packet such as a beacon frame.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

A first object of the invention is an apparatus and method for reducedpower consumption in the periodic power-up of a wireless station at abeacon wakeup time for reception of a beacon frame, whereby:

upon the expected arrival of a beacon frame, the station enters into arepetitive series of preamble detect cycles, each preamble detect cycleoperative on a preamble detector and comprising a preamble detectioninterval followed by a sleep interval;

the preamble detector operative for a series of intervals of aconditional hierarchy, each interval of shorter duration than requiredto reliably detect a preamble;

where power is applied to a phase lock loop delivering at least oneclock to the preamble detector (PLL) a PLL settling time prior to eachpreamble detection interval and also throughout the preamble detectioninterval;

each sleep interval having a duration equal to a preamble duration minusthe sum of two times the preamble detection interval plus a preambleprocessing interval;

where power is applied to the preamble detector during the preambledetection interval and when a preamble is present, power remains appliedto the preamble detector and also a preamble processor;

and where power is removed from the PLL, preamble detector, and preambleprocessor during the sleep interval.

A second object of the invention is a process for power-up of a wirelessreceiver receiving beacon frames operative on a receiver having RFcomponents, PLL components, a preamble detector, and a preambleprocessor, the PLL components having a settling time, the preambledetector having a preamble sensing interval, and the preamble processorhaving a preamble processing interval, the process comprising:

identifying an expected preamble arrival time;

repetitively cycling power on during a preamble detection interval andoff during a sleep interval, where during the preamble detectioninterval power is applied to the RF components and preamble detector,and where during the sleep interval, power is removed from the RFcomponents and preamble detector;

and where power to the PLL components is applied a PLL settling timeprior to the preamble detection interval and also throughout thepreamble detection interval, and power to the PLL components is removedduring the sleep interval;

the preamble detection interval comprising a preamble sensing time;

the sleep interval being substantially equal to a preamble duration lesstwo times the preamble sensing time and less a preamble processing time;

the preamble detector operative for a series of time intervals of aconditional hierarchy, at least one time interval being a shorterduration of time than the duration of time required for reliabledetection of a preamble;

and where a preamble processor is powered on during the preambledetection interval and is also powered on during the preamble processingtime if a preamble is sensed.

A third object of the invention is a process for detection of a preambleof a beacon frame, the process comprising:

identifying an expected beacon frame arrival time;

a preamble search step where power is repetitively applied to PLLcomponents a PLL settling time prior to the preamble detection interval,and where during the preamble detection interval, power is applied to RFcomponents, preamble detector components, and preamble processorcomponents, after which power is removed from the PLL components, RFcomponents, preamble detector components and preamble processorcomponents during a sleep interval which follows the preamble detectioninterval;

the preamble detector operative for at least one shortened interval oftime compared to the interval of time required for a reliable preambledetection;

and where the sleep interval is equal to or less than a preambleduration less the sum of two times the preamble detection interval and apreamble processing interval;

and where, upon detection of a preamble for a beacon frame, powerremains applied to the PLL components, RF components, packet detectioncomponents and preamble processor until the end of the beacon frame.

A fourth object of the invention is a preamble detector which iscyclically operative to perform an in-phase cross correlation of areceived PLCP with a template PLCP and a quadrature cross correlation ofa received PLCP with a template PLCP, the in-phase cross correlation andquadrature cross correlation results squared and summed into a linearaccumulator over a canonical fixed interval equal to the PLCP interval,the peak accumulated result compared to a non-peak accumulated resultfor a first interval, if a first interval threshold value is notexceeded, powering down the preamble detector, otherwise continuing theaccumulation and comparison for a second interval approximately equal tothe first interval, and if the threshold value is exceeded at the end ofthe second interval, continuing the accumulation and comparison for athird interval approximately equal to the sum of the first and secondinterval durations, and if the accumulated result of the crosscorrelation at the end of the third interval exceeds a threshold,asserting preamble detect, otherwise powering down until a subsequentcycle, the preamble detector threshold selected to have less than a 50%rate of false alarm rate (FAR) and more than 1% FAR for a preambledetection using only the first interval.

A fifth object of the invention is an energy efficient preamble detectoroperative on a linear array of values, each value formed from the sum ofthe square of the cross correlation of an in-phase channel with a PLCPpreamble plus the square of the cross correlation of a quadrature-phasechannel over the duration of a PLCP preamble interval, the preambledetector having an accumulator with a length equal to a PLCP templateused for the cross-correlation, the accumulator forming an accumulatedsum of each value of the linear array of values, the accumulated sumhaving a peak value which is compared to a threshold during a firstinterval equal to a first plurality of PLCP intervals, the accumulationcontinuing for a second interval if the threshold is not exceeded duringthe first interval, the accumulation continuing for a third interval ifthe threshold is not exceeded during the second interval;

where the threshold over the first interval is set for a false packetdetection rate of greater than 1% and less than 50%, the packet detectorasserting a preamble detect output and powering down the preambledetector for the remainder of the preamble if the threshold is exceededduring or at the end of the third interval.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A wireless station receives beacon frames at periodic intervals fromwhich an expected beacon arrival may be determined. A series of preambledetection cycles is initiated until a preamble is detected, eachpreamble detection cycle comprising a preamble detection intervalfollowed by a sleep interval. In at least one of: a low signal to noisecondition, low RSSI condition, or high multipath reflection condition,the packet detector operates using a shorter detection interval thanrequired for reliable packet detection. Power is applied to phase lockedloop (PLL) clock distribution a PLL settling time prior to each preambledetection interval and throughout the preamble detection interval. Poweris applied to a receiver and preamble detector during the preambledetection interval, and power is removed from the receiver, preambledetector, and PLL during the sleep interval. The receiver includes RFcircuits which receive and amplify the wireless packet, convert thepacket to baseband symbols by mixing with a local oscillator at acarrier frequency, and present the symbol stream to a preamble detectorfor detection of preamble symbols and subsequently to a preambleprocessor for extraction of preamble characteristics if a preamble isdetected. The duration of the preamble detection interval is equal to apreamble sensing interval, and the duration of the sleep interval isequal to the duration of a preamble less the sum of twice the durationof the preamble detection interval plus the duration of the preambleprocessing interval. By dividing the preamble sensing interval into aseries of sub-intervals, the preamble sensing interval may be minimizedthrough early termination and powerdown during low signal or highinterference conditions, the preamble detector of the invention consumesless power than if the preamble sensing intervals were of fixed length.The preamble detector consumes less power when the preamble detector isdisabled during a sub-interval of time than would be required forreliable preamble detection, even in the presence of increased falsepacket detect events from the shortened preamble detection interval.

A method for a wireless station has a first step of listening for apreamble of a wireless packet using a receiver and a preamble detector,whereby only the receiver and preamble detector are cyclically poweredup for a first (detection) interval and powered down for a second(sleep) interval, the first detection interval substantially equal tothe duration of a preamble sensing interval which is substantially equalto the time required for the receiver to reach an operational stateafter application of power, to perform AGC operations, and to detect thepresence of a preamble. The preamble sensing interval is of variablelength, and is divided into a series of preamble sensing interval whichmay terminate preamble detection under certain conditions. If a preambleis detected at the final preamble sensing interval, preamble detect isasserted and a preamble processor extracts parameters required by abaseband processor for demodulation of the packet. The second sleepinterval is substantially equal to the duration of a wireless packetpreamble less the sum of two times the first interval plus the durationof a wireless preamble processing interval. The use of a shortened andhigh false alarm rate over a hierarchy of successive preamble sensingintervals to disqualify a nonexistent, low signal to noise, or highinterference preamble early in the preamble detect cycle results in alonger sleep interval, providing overall reduced power consumption.

A preamble detector starts in a reset condition and receives a series ofsamples of in-phase received PLCP preamble and quadrature-phase receivedPLCP preamble, and performs a cross correlation of the in-phase receivedPLCP preamble with a PLCP template and also the quadrature-phasereceived PLCP preamble which is correlated with the PLCP template, thein-phase correlation result and quadrature correlation result eachseparately squared and then summed to form a plurality of values with atime extent equal to the time extent of the PLCP preamble. The pluralityof values may thereby be repetitively and canonically accumulated on asample by sample basis for each PLCP extent such that the correlationpeaks will accumulate coherently and the noise will add incoherentlyover the PLCP extent. The preamble detector continues to operate for afirst interval equal to a multiple of elemental PLCP symbols (such as astorage location in the cross-correlation accumulator corresponding toeach of the 11 bits of a barker code for 802.11b), and the largestaccumulated peak value is compared to the surrounding noise or to asecond or subsequent largest accumulated peak value, and packetdetection is asserted when the largest accumulated peak value exceeds athreshold, after which the packet detector is disabled with packetdetect asserted. If the accumulated peak at the end of a first intervaldoes not exceed the threshold, then the accumulation continues for asecond interval which may be substantially equal to the first interval.If the accumulated peak value exceeds the threshold at the end of thesecond interval, packet detect is asserted and the packet detector isdisabled. If the comparison does not exceed the threshold at the end ofthe second interval, then the accumulation continues for a thirdinterval which may be substantially equal to the first interval plus thesecond interval. If the accumulated peak value exceeds the threshold atthe end of the third interval, packet detect is asserted and the packetdetector is disabled. If the accumulated peak value does not exceed thethreshold at this point in time, then either the process continues for afourth interval, or preferably the packet detector is reset and disableduntil a subsequent preamble detection cycle, the preamble detectioninterval substantially equal to the preamble interval less two times thepreamble detection time (Tpd), less the preamble processing time (Tpp).

Alternatively, where the PLCP preamble has length n, the correlationvalues from the sum of the square of the in-phase and quadraturecorrelation results may be used to generate an accumulated result suchthat if no preamble is detected by comparison of the accumulated crosscorrelation peaks with a first interval threshold during a firstinterval of m*n bits, the cross correlation accumulation continues for asecond interval of m*n bits, if no preamble is detected at that time,the cross correlation accumulation continuing for a third interval of2m*n bits, and if a preamble is not detected at that time, the crosscorrelation accumulation continuing for an optional additional 4m*nbits. The detection of a preamble and assertion of a preamble detectoutput occurs after any of: the maximum (peak) value of the accumulatedcorrelation result exceeds a threshold, a maximum peak accumulated valueexceeds one or more other non-maximum peak accumulator values, oralternatively, the maximum accumulator peak value exceeds a non-peak(background noise) level of the accumulator. At the end of eachinterval, if the threshold is not exceeded, then a comparison isperformed again during each subsequent interval until a given number ofintervals have occurred, which qualifies as a preamble detect event. Thepreamble detect process is alternatively terminated and preambledetector powered down upon the first interval for which the accumulatorpreamble peak does not exceed the threshold. Accordingly, a maximum(peak) accumulated value of the cross-correlation result during thefirst interval, second interval, or third interval which does not exceedthe threshold results in powering down the preamble detector withoutasserting preamble detect output at the earliest interval where thecross-correlation peak fails to exceed the threshold, whereas across-correlation peak which exceeds the threshold in the final interval(the final interval being typically the third, or alternatively anysubsequent interval occurring approximately 20 us from start of preambledetect) results in asserting a preamble detect output and typicallypowering down the preamble detector after preamble detect assertion.Following a preamble detection event, the start of frame delimiter (SFD)or other subsequent frames may be optionally detected to verify thepreamble detection is correct and is not a false preamble detectionevent. Rather than averaging over a long preamble and comparing to athreshold for preamble detection of the prior art, the present inventionestablishes the preamble detection threshold to between 1% and 50% falsepreamble detection rate over an example interval length such as 5 us,which is less than an 802.11b preamble duration. By performing thepreamble detection using a comparison between a threshold and theaccumulated cross-correlation result, and conditionally continuing tothe next interval only when the accumulated cross correlation peakexceeds a threshold set for a high FAR for the shortest interval thepreamble detection duration is significantly shortened for non-preamblesample intervals, resulting in lower power dissipation and longerbattery life.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of access points and associated stations inan infrastructure mode.

FIG. 2 is a timing diagram for a station operating in infrastructuremode with an access point.

FIG. 3 is a timing diagram for a station operating in infrastructuremode with an access point with wireless interferers.

FIG. 4A is a diagram showing the fields of an 802.11 Wireless Local AreaNetwork (WLAN) packet with a long preamble, such as a beacon frame.

FIG. 4B is a diagram showing the fields of a WLAN packet with a shortpreamble.

FIG. 5 is a timing diagram for a receiver preamble detection.

FIG. 6A is a timing diagram for early detection of a preamble.

FIG. 6B is a timing diagram for late detection of a preamble.

FIG. 7 shows the block diagram for a receiver and baseband processoroperating according to an example of the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows a flowchart for a low power receive process for beaconpacket detection.

FIG. 9 shows the block diagram for a packet detector.

FIGS. 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D, and 9E, and 9F show waveform plots for theoperation of the packet detector of FIG. 9.

FIG. 10A shows a diagram of PLCP Preamble intervals.

FIG. 10B shows a result tree for FIG. 10A with example outcomelikelihoods for preamble detection.

FIG. 10C shows a table of likelihoods for PLCP correlations exceeding athreshold for various cross correlation PLCP lengths.

FIG. 10D shows a computation of average PD time based on the examples ofFIGS. 10A, 10B, and 10C.

FIG. 11A shows plots of probability density functions for differentlevels of averaging for noise only and signal plus noise for a lowsignal strength case.

FIG. 11B shows plots of probability density functions for differentlevels of averaging for noise only and signal plus noise for a lowsignal strength case.

FIG. 12 shows a flowchart for a preamble detect algorithm operative on apreamble detector.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is operative in wireless local area networks(WLAN) operative using the protocols of IEEE 802.11, which areunderstood to include wireless networks which are compatible with orinteroperable with the IEEE 802.11-2012 and predecessor 802.11standards.

Applicant identifies the following terminology for use in understandingthe invention:

A receiver is understood to be any electronic circuitry which can beenergized into a power-on state or de-energized into a power-down statefor receiving wireless packets and amplifying them. The receiver mayinclude automatic gain control (AGC) operations and the assertion of apreamble detect output as part of preamble sensing. When a preamble isdetected, preamble processing occurs which may also optionally includeperforming channel equalization, center frequency offset correction, andrake training prior to digitization and presentation to a basebandsignal processor for demodulation of the packet which follows thepreamble. Typically, the receiver also includes a pre-amplifier, abaseband mixer, low pass filters, and analog to digital converter (ADC)with an output coupled to a preamble sensor and preamble processor, andthe preamble processor delivers the extracted channel equalization andfrequency offset parameters to the baseband processor for demodulatingthe associated packet. During the preamble sensing interval, thereceiver performs automatic gain control (AGC) to place the signal intoa suitable dynamic range of the ADC during the preamble interval of areceived packet.

A preamble detector is coupled to a receiver which accepts a wirelesssignal and provides it to the preamble detector as a digitizedquadrature baseband signal, the preamble detector asserting a preambledetect output upon detection of the preamble part of the wirelesspacket, which signals the preamble processor to perform channelestimation, resulting in the generation of what is known as an H_matrix,the preamble processor also providing information about the relativephase and gain corrections to be applied to the individual subcarriers,including center frequency offset (CFO), symbol timing, and raketraining prior to packet demodulation, which is performed by thebaseband processor.

The preamble detector of the present invention is operative over a PLCPpreamble having a duration, the PLCP preamble divided into a pluralityof intervals. A cross correlation result is formed between the incomingstream of PLCP preamble symbols and a PLCP template, such that a peak isformed at the point of time when the PLCP template matches the incomingPLCP preamble. The cross correlation is performed over a duration equalto the duration of a single preamble symbol in the PLCP stream, and thecross correlation results are added to the results previously stored ina cross correlation accumulator.

Various parts of a wireless receiver may accept a variety of clocksignals which are derived from a phase lock loop (PLL) oscillator, andthe PLL typically has a settling time after power up before the clocksignals are usable for the associated required functions.

The present apparatus and method includes determining the expectedarrival of a beacon frame having a preamble, where the apparatus andmethod includes a preamble detection state when a WLAN packet preambleis received and a preamble detector which asserts a preamble detectoutput when a preamble is detected, typically in a processing time ofsubstantially 10 us for a comparatively high SNR or high received signalstrength indicator (RSSI) or low multi-path reflection environment,versus substantially 20 us for a comparatively low SNR or RSSI, or highmulti-path reflection environment. If a preamble is detected, powerremains applied afterwards to the preamble processor for approximately28 us for preamble processing to occur, including the extraction of atleast a channel estimate, center frequency offset, or rake training. Ifno preamble is detected, power is removed from the preamble processorand preamble detector until the subsequent preamble detection cycleoccurs.

All wireless packets begin with a preamble sequence in the first segmentof a wireless packet, which for a 802.11 WLAN packet is typicallytransmitted at a bit rate of 10⁶ bits per second (BPS), referred to as 1MBPS, and the preamble may be “short” or “long” as described in FIGS. 4Aand 4B. Short preamble frames are permitted for 802.11b, 802.11g, and802.11n, for example, however beacon frames which are the packets ofinterest in the present invention must be transmitted with long preambleof FIG. 4A.

The present invention is operative using a series of sequential preambledetection cycles, each preamble detection cycle consisting of a preambledetection interval followed by a sleep interval. The preamble detectioncycles are initiated during time intervals when a beacon frame isexpected to be received, since the beacons are transmitted by a remoteaccess point (AP) at regular intervals known to the station. Repeatingpreamble detection cycles comprising a preamble detection intervalfollowed by a sleep interval, and the preamble detection cycles continueuntil a preamble is detected, at which point power remains applied tothe receiver and PLL components through the subsequent preambleprocessing interval and baseband processor packet demodulation andpacket header extraction until it is determined whether a packet is tobe received by the STA (typically by a match between the MAC destinationaddress field and the station MAC address). If preamble detect isasserted, power remains applied to the receiver and PLL until the packetis received. If no preamble is detected during the beacon time intervalof preamble detection cycles, or the packet is not destined for the STA,the receiver is powered off. Alternatively, power may be selectivelyapplied only during specific fields of the beacon packet, including thesource address field and TIM bitmap field of the beacon frame. Inanother example of the invention for use with beacon frames, thepreamble detector is cyclically operative during preamble intervalcycles during a window of time when a beacon frame is expected.

A PLL settling time prior to each preamble detection interval, the PLLsare powered on by the assertion of PLL_Power for a PLL settling timeafter which the clock signals distributed through the receiver arestable and the mixer and other components can operate successfully.

The preamble detection interval refers to the interval when power isapplied to the receiver, including any required preamplifier, mixer, lowpass filter, analog to digital converter (ADC), preamble detector, andbaseband processor, and the sleep interval refers to the subsequentinterval when power is removed from the receiver and preamble detector.During the preamble detection interval, the receiver, preamble detector,and preamble processor have power enabled by the signal RX_Power, andduring the preamble sensing interval, the preamble detector performs AGCand detects the presence of a preamble during the preamble sensinginterval. If a preamble is detected, power remains applied to a preambleprocessor which operates over a preamble processing interval, duringwhich time center frequency offset, channel equalization, and raketraining occur, but the preamble processing interval only occurs if apreamble detect occurs during the preamble sensing interval. In a firstmode of the preamble detector, preamble detection occurs for acomparatively long interval sufficient to assure less than 0.1% falsepreamble detection rate, such as by using a comparatively high preambledetection threshold or a longer preamble detection interval. In a secondmode of the preamble detector, preamble detection occurs using a seriesof comparatively short preamble detection intervals, the shortestinterval being sufficiently short and used with a cross correlation peakthreshold sufficient to incur a 1% or greater false preamble detectionrate, typically the threshold is set for a 20% false preamble detectionrate (also known as a false alarm rate, or FAR), such as by using acomparatively lower preamble detection threshold to the accumulatedcross correlation peak result, resulting in a high FAR, rather than thehigh preamble detection threshold with longer processing time andgreater power dissipation but comparatively lower FAR. Prior to thepreamble detector or preamble processor becoming operational afterapplication of power, there are several sources of initialization delay,each with a separate time constant, but these initialization delays areassociated with the receiver being in an operative state to receive anyincoming beacon frame preamble, which requires the clock distribution besettled and stable, which is associated with phase lock loop (PLL)settling time for a multiplied clock provided to the receiver orpreamble detector after application of PLL_Power to the PLL circuits.

FIG. 1 shows wireless devices 116 operating in 802.11 WLANinfrastructure mode including access point AP1 108 and associatedstations STA1 102, STA2 104, STA3 106 STA4 110, STA5 112, and STA 6 114,which are associated to the access point AP1 108 according to the WLANassociation procedure of IEEE 802.11, either by passive association,where the STA joins the AP via an association request, or by an activeassociation, whereby the STA joins the AP using a probe command, asdescribed in 802.11. Nearby stations STA 7 134, STA8 136, STA9 138 areassociated with access point AP2 132 which is also operating in an IEEE802.11 infrastructure network 130 unrelated to infrastructure network116.

FIG. 2 shows a timing diagram for a communications protocol of awireless local area network access point such as FIG. 1 AP1 108operating with an example station STA1 102. Periodic beacon frames 208a, 208 b, 208 c, etc. are transmitted a uniform time interval T1 210from each other. According to the IEEE 802.11 WLAN power-save protocol,the station wakes up at intervals 212 a, 212 b, and 212 c, and the WLANstation receives frames, and if the station STA has any frames totransmit, does so during the DTIM partition of the beacon frame, shownat indicated times 204 a, 204 b, 204 c, etc. The operation of FIG. 2provides great efficiency in power consumption, as the STA receiver usesinternal circuitry to generate a wakeup signal, and it is only consumingpower when powered up for transmit/receive operations. FIG. 2 shows aSTIM interval of 1 (powering up once for each beacon), but the STA mayelect to power up once every several beacons, as identified in the DTIMheader and map.

Whereas FIG. 2 shows a best-case scenario without interferers orcongestion, FIG. 3 shows the reduction in power-save mode efficiencywhen interference from non-associated stations or an unrelated AP whichoperates on the same channel is present. The access point 108 of FIG. 1sends beacon 310 of FIG. 3 with the intention of sending the next beacon322 after interval T1 301. However, because of interference fromnon-associated stations 134, 136, 138 and access point 132 sharing thesame channel, WLAN packet 320 is unsynchronized with AP beacons 311since it is not part of the infrastructure of the AP generating beacons311 of FIG. 3. Another source of delay is clock accuracy. A typicalwakeup clock accuracy may be ±40 parts per million (PPM), whichcorresponds to 4 us over a 100 ms beacon interval, or 40 us for a 1 sbeacon interval. Accordingly, the wake-up time must be adjusted forbeacon interval, clock accuracy, and congestion delays. The stations oraccess points generating unrelated traffic are known as an interferers,which triggers the transmission back-off mechanism of IEEE 802.11, whichdelays the transmission of regular beacon 322 to time 324 to avoidinterfering with the reception of WLAN packet 320. Through this back-offinterval, the STA receiver remains awake from the expected beaconarrival 322 until its actual arrival 324, shown as STA_RX_Power_On 326,remains asserted during extended window 328 until the channel is clear,at which time any receive packets 332 from the AP may be received andpackets transmitted by the STA. An extended delay 343 is shown to occuron the subsequent beacon 340 arrival time, which is expected to occur abeacon interval T1 303 after previously transmitted beacon 324. Thestation takes note of the delayed beacon 340 arriving 348, and resetsits wakeup timer to the expected arrival time of beacon 324 (with thedelay T1 determined by the timestamp contained in each beacon), andasserts power-on 342, enabling all receiver circuitry in preparation forthe next beacon. However, because of additional adjacent-channelinterferers 341 or clock variations, the beacon 348 is additionallydelayed, and the STA_RX_Poweron signal 343 is also extended, duringwhich time receiver power is being consumed, but a packet has notarrived to be received until the end of the interval at time 346. Duringthis entire extended interval 343, the station WLAN receiver circuitryremains enabled and consuming power, which is the primary problem ofpower saver operation in a congested network or networks with channelinterferers.

FIGS. 4A and 4B show 802.11 WLAN packet frame formats. FIG. 4A shows along preamble packet 402, which comprises, in sequence, 144 bits ofpreamble 404 at 1 MBPS using Differential Binary Phase Shift Keying(DBPSK) modulation, followed by 16 bits of start of frame delimiter 406,followed by 8 bits of signal 408, 8 bits of service 410, a length field412, a CRC 414 which operates over the header, and the payload 416.Beacon and control frames are transmitted using 1 MBPS payloadmodulation, and these legacy packet types (in an era of modern WLANequipment driven by higher data throughputs of IEEE standards 802.11b,802.11g, and 802.11n higher throughput modulation methods) aretransmitted using long preamble only, as required by the IEEE 802.11standard. FIG. 4B shows a short preamble packet for use with higher datarate (greater than 1 MBps non-beacon frames), which was developed withthe deployment of 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n, where the preamble isshortened to 72 bits at 1 MBPS DBPSK, with the remainder of the WLANfields being the same (other than modulation type for each field), asindicated by the identical identifiers as used in FIG. 4A. Since thefirst release of IEEE 802.11b, stations have been required to beoperative with either short (56 bit) or long (128 bit) preambles.

FIG. 7 shows the block diagram of a receiver which is operativeaccording to one example of the invention. Power is furnished by battery724 where the design objective of the receiver station 700 is tomaximize battery life through minimal power consumption. The station 700is operative in an IEEE 802.11 infrastructure using beacon frames withDTIM, and wakes up prior to when a beacon frame is expected to arrive.Wireless packets are received and transmitted on antenna 702, but forclarity, only the receive components of the system are shown in FIG. 7.Wireless packets received on antenna 702 are directed to a preamplifier704 where they are amplified, passed to mixer 706 for quadraturebaseband conversion, filtered by low pass filter 708, and digitized byanalog to digital converter (ADC) 710, after which a preamble isdetected 712 for an exemplar preamble sensing time of 10 us (for anexemplar channel free of multipath or interference, or 20 us for highmultipath or an interfering channel) during which time AGC is performedand preamble detect is asserted. If preamble detect output from 712 isasserted, preamble processor 714 is operative for an incrementalexemplar preamble processing time of 28 us after preamble detectassertion 712, during which time channel estimation, center frequencyoffset, and rake training are performed, each of which is used by thebaseband processor 716, which is not powered on 715 unless preambledetection occurs. If the arriving frame is a valid packet such as partof the expected beacon frame, the packet is sent to a baseband processorfor demodulation 714. A power controller 718 applies power 720 to thephase lock loop (PLL) and clock distribution 716 prior to the arrival ofthe expected beacon frame for the clock signals to settle, and shortlyafterwards, Rx power 722 to the remaining receiver components isapplied. Baseband processor 717 is separately powered through switch715, which may be enabled after preamble detection occurs.

FIG. 5 shows the timing rationale for the receiver preamble detectionapparatus and method such as was shown in FIG. 7. A long PLCP preamblesuch as from a beacon frame is 128 microseconds long (128 bits at 1MBPS), each microsecond having an associated 11 bit Barker code chip,with the PLCP preamble terminated by a 16 bit start of frame delimiter(SFD), each bit of the SFD similarly formed by an 11 bit barker codechip. An exemplar preamble detector is operative in a first mode wherethe preamble detector has a high preamble detection threshold, thepreamble detector typically requiring a preamble sensing or preambledetection interval Tpd of substantially 10 microseconds to perform AGCand detect preamble for high SNR or low multipath received signals, or20 us for a high multipath signal or poor SNR, with an additionalpreamble processing time Tpp of 28 us to perform center frequency offset(CFO) correction, rake training, and tracking loop convergence,operations which provide prerequisite information used by the basebandprocessor to demodulate the packet and extract the payload information.The preamble detection Tpd intervals may be fixed length in the firstmode of operation. In a second mode of operation where the preambledetector has a low preamble detection threshold operative over theaccumulated peak cross correlation value and with a series of shortenedpreamble detection intervals, the preamble detector may utilize a lowerthreshold associated with a higher rate of false preamble detection foreach shortened interval, thereby achieving Tpd of 10 us with greaterthan 1% rate of false preamble detection, and as high as, or higher than20% false preamble detection rate. As the packet PLCP preamble is longerthan is required for packet detection, the receiver and preambledetector may be powered on as shown by the bold line shown in the plotfor Rx_Power 508 only during the preamble detection interval 530, and ifa preamble is detected, RX_Power 508 remains applied through thepreamble processor interval Tpp 532. The preamble detection interval501, which is the maximum interval of time power is applied to thereceiver if no preamble is detected, is equal to the preamble sensinginterval Tpd. If a preamble is detected, a subsequent preamble sensinginterval Tpp occurs. If preamble detect is not asserted at the end ofthe preamble sensing interval Tpd 530, PLL_Power and RX_Power arepowered down and the sleep interval 503 follows, as shown by the hashedregions 521 and 523 for PLL_Power and Rx_Power, respectively. By carefulselection of sleep interval 503 to allow two preamble detectionintervals 501 plus a preamble processing interval which span theduration of the long preamble 522 of a beacon frame, and with specificknowledge of the receiver and preamble detector response time (providedas substantially 10 us in the present example) and preamble processingtime (provided as substantially 28 us in the present example), if nopreamble is detected during Tpd 530, it is possible to power-off thereceiver during the preamble processing interval 532 and sleep interval503, thereby assuring that a transmitted preamble from an AP beaconframe will not be missed, and the receiver need not be powered upcontinuously during this interval while waiting for the beacon frame toarrive. Because the reception of WLAN beacon packets is asynchronous tothe Rx_Power signal 508, it is important to provide a minimum of twocomplete preamble detect intervals Tpd and one preamble processingintervals Tpp during a preamble 522 interval Tpreamble. Additionally,power to the PLL (PLL_Power) 506 is provided a PLL settling (Tpllsettle)time 518 prior to the preamble detection interval 501. An exampleTpllsettle of 6 us is provided in the current examples for understandingthe invention. The detection of a preamble enables power to the preambleprocessor and other components of the receiver until it is determinedthat a packet is to be received by the current station according to thereceived beacon DTIM station bitmap, or it is determined that no suchpacket is to be received, at which time the receiver is powered downuntil the next expected arrival 512 of a beacon frame.

Timely preamble detection shortly after the expected arrival of a beaconframe is shown 526, as well as delayed beacon frame packet detection 528which occurs many preamble detect cycles after the estimate beaconarrival time 512.

FIG. 6A shows a timing example for the earliest possible preambledetection in a preamble detection cycle, with a preamble 602 arrivingwith sufficient time Tpd during the first preamble detection interval I1to assert preamble detect 606 early in the cycle, and shows thesubsequent preamble processing interval 608. FIG. 6B shows a timingexample for the latest possible preamble detection of a preambledetection cycle, where the first RX_Power 624 assertion for the durationTpd occurs too early in the preamble for preamble detect 626 to occur(and power is removed from the preamble processor during 628), but thepreamble detect 626 is asserted Tpd after the second assertion ofRx_Pwron 624 during the preamble 620.

In one example embodiment of the invention, the PLL settling time 518 ofFIG. 5 (governed by PLL lock time to provide a sufficiently stable clocksignal for the receiver components such as mixers and ADCs to operateand sample uniformly) is 6 us representing 510 of FIG. 5, and Tpd 530 ofFIG. 5 can be 10 us for good SNR, and low multi-path, or 20 us formultipath reflection, low SNR, or interference, and the Tpp operationsof CFO, channel equalization, and preamble detection represented by 532is 28 us, so the preamble detection interval 501 is 10 us in a firstpreamble detector mode (with low false detection rate) where theincoming signal presents with high SNR and low multi-path reflection, or10 us in a second preamble detector mode (with high false detectionrate) where the incoming signal presents with low SNR and highmulti-path reflection. For a long preamble 522 of 128 us, the sleepinterval 503 is 128 us−2*10 us−28 us=80 us. Since a late beacon arrivalresults in RX_Power only being cyclically applied for Tpd of 10 us overthe interval of Tpd of 10 us plus the sleep interval of 80 us, the powerconsumption of the present invention when a beacon frame arrives late istherefore 10/90=11% (less than 1/9th of the power) compared to the priorart method of leaving the receiver operative until a preamble isdetected. Generally, the power savings is Tpd/(Tpd+Tsleep). By utilizingthe first preamble detector mode for high SNR and low multipathreflection, and the second preamble detector mode for low SNR and highmultipath reflection, Tpd may be preserved as 10 us in either high orlow multipath signal conditions, providing advantageous powerconsumption. Since the false positive detection rate for a reducedthreshold preamble detector will occur approximately 1 out of 10preamble detection events, the total effect on power consumption remainsquite small, since reduction of Tpd dominates the power savings, and afalse preamble detect results in the subsequent failure to detectexpected packet fields by the baseband processor 716 of FIG. 7, whichresults in the baseband processor asserting the entire receiver,preamble detector, and baseband processor return to a powerdown mode.Similarly, the PLL clock tree is only enabled for(Tpllsettle+Tpd)/(Tpd+Tsleep), or 16/90=17% or less than ⅕th of theprior art for power consumed during intervals of delayed beacon frames.

In multipath signal environments, it has been measured that Tpd is 20 usin the first detector mode (with high threshold) whereas Tpd can bereduced to 10 us by selecting a lower detector threshold with a higherfalse preamble detection rate in a second detector mode. The firstdetector mode may be associated with a rate of false preamble detectionwhich is less than 0.1%, and the second detector mode may be associatedwith a rate of false preamble detection which is greater than 1%,typically on the order of 20% false preamble detection rate. Asdescribed earlier, the higher false preamble detection rate actuallyresults in lower power consumption because of the infrequency of falsepreamble detection compared to the power savings associated withreducing Tpd when no detectable preamble is present using the shortenedpreamble detection interval. The hierarchical nature of dividing thepreamble detection into a series of intervals and continuing to the nextinterval when the cross correlation peak exceeds a threshold ensuresthat the preamble detection is not adversely compared to the prior artmethod.

FIG. 8 shows one example of the preamble detection of beacon frames as aprocess 800 of an example embodiment the present invention. At step 802,a controller anticipates the expected arrival of a beacon by enablingPLL_Power 804 a PLL settling time Tpllsettle prior to the expectedarrival of the beacon. After enabling PLL_Power 804, and waiting forPLL_Power to settle 806, a T1 timer 808 is started and RX_Power isenabled 810. A loop of checking for Preamble Detect 812 and T1 timerexpiration 814 occurs until either a preamble detect is asserted leadingto preamble processing 815 and packet demodulation 816, or in the caseof timer T1 expiration where a preamble does not arrive during the Tpdinterval, the sleep cycle of 818 and 820, during which sleep intervalPLL_Power and RX_Power are removed. A PLL settling time Tpllsettle priorto the end of the sleep interval, PLL_Power 804 is enabled shortly priorto the next preamble detection cycle starting at step 808.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram for a receiver and preamble detector 901.The front end block 960 accepts wireless signals from antenna 902 whichreceives wireless packets which include a preamble part modulated at acarrier frequency, the wireless packets are coupled to a low noiseamplifier (LNA) 904 and a variable gain amplifier (VGA) 906 whichadjusts the signal level to an optimum range of the dynamic range of thequadrature mixers 908 and 910, and also the optimum dynamic range ofanalog to digital converters (ADC) 918 and 920. Local oscillator 912provides quadrature oscillation outputs (two oscillator outputs phaseshifted 90 degrees with respect to each other) at the carrier frequency,thereby generating baseband quadrature mixer 908 and 910 outputs, whichare coupled to low pass filters 914 and 916, respectively. The outputsof the low pass filters 914 and 916 are digitized by an in-phase (I)analog to digital converter (ADC) 918 generating I (in-phase sample)output 922 and quadrature (Q) ADC 920 generating Q (quadrature sample)output 924. The digitized I output 922 is applied to an I slidingcross-correlator 928, and the digitized Q output 924 is applied to a Qsliding cross-correlator 929. Each sliding correlator 928 and 929performs a periodic sliding correlation of the respective incoming PLCPpreamble symbol stream 922/924 against a preamble PLCP template 932/933.For an m-bit codeword 932/933 (such as an 11 bit Barker code), thesliding correlator performs a cross correlation over each of the mpositions of the PLCP template codeword, forming a cross correlation ofthe codeword 932/933 with the received symbol pattern 922/924.Alternatively, the PLCP template may have each bit replicated once togenerate a 22 bit code, and the sample rate doubled so that the sampledsignal satisfies the Nyquist sampling rate and phase displacementsbetween symbols and sample times provides better granularity fordetermining correlation peaks. Each respective I and Q bit position ofthe correlation result from 928 and 929 is then squared and summed 926to form a magnitude value for each correlation sample of the 11 (or 22)sample output. The squaring and summing 926 of the correlator outputsremoves the frequency and phase offsets associated with the slidingcorrelators operating on analytic signals where the center frequencyoffset has not having been computed or removed, as is performed laterduring baseband processing of the packet payload and after the preambleis detected. The correlation result of each bit position 1 through m(m=11 for Barker code, or m=22 if sampled twice per bit to accommodatefor phase offsets) is added to an associated accumulated bit position inresult accumulator 935, which takes the current accumulator result (11bits for 1× sampling, 22 bits for 2× sampling), and adds the currentcorrelation value coherently to the previous correlation results. Asnoise adds incoherently, whereas the correlation results will have acorrelation peak in the same position each accumulation cycle, thesignal peaks will grow after each accumulation cross-correlationcompared to the noise. The accumulator 935 is reset at the beginning ofeach preamble detection cycle, and synchronously accumulates the slidingcorrelator result for each successive preamble in the stream, eachpreamble correlation peak adding to a previous correlation peak at anassociated corresponding bit position. In this manner, the Barkerpreamble chip or codeword generates a stationary peak in a singlelocation of the correlation accumulator, and the other cross correlationvalues outside of the central correlation peak tend to add incoherently.In the case of multipath reflection, multiple shifted weaker copies ofthe preamble may arrive and appear in the correlator output as timeshifted preamble peaks. The accumulator 935 thereby generates a seriesof such preamble correlation peak responses, typically a maximum peakfrom a directly received signal, and a lower peak from a reflectedsignal delayed in time by multipath delay. A threshold detector 952 isoperative with an externally applied threshold 950 where the thresholdmay increment for each successive accumulation. In one example of theinvention, the threshold detector 952 forms a sum of k correlation peakresponses (for the case of multipath reflection with an originalresponse and k−1 delayed reflections) and divides this sum by the sum oftotal surrounding signal values to establish whether to proceed as thethreshold comparison result, or alternatively divides by the totalsignal values less the k peak responses previously identified toestablish whether to proceed as a threshold comparison result. Inanother example of the invention, the largest peak (corresponding to abarker code correlation peak) is compared 952 to either the secondhighest peak, or to the noise floor. Using any of these methods, or acombination thereof, the threshold detector generates a preamble metric,which is then compared with a threshold 950 according to one of thepreviously described thresholding methods (comparing to a noisebaseline, to a second or secondary highest accumulator amplitude peakvalues, or to a predetermined interval-dependent threshold).

FIG. 9A shows a time-domain plot for a data stream 972 barker codesequence for sequential values 00010, and waveforms 974 of FIG. 9B and976 of FIG. 9C show the I and Q channel correlations, respectively, at22 Mhz (two samples per Barker code bit). FIG. 9D 978 and FIG. 9E 979show the same I and Q correlation results with a post-cursor (having amain correlation accumulator peak 973 followed by a lower amplitudesubsequent peak 975 caused by multi-path reflection as shown in plot978). FIG. 9F plot 980 shows the values in the preamble accumulator overtime, showing the growth in correlation peak over several cycles,compared to the noise floor. The accumulator may have a single linearaccumulation register containing each bit position of cross-correlationas an accumulator result and which is reset at the start of the preambledetect process, and which has the linear array of values 986 of FIG. 9Faccumulated over a first PLCP preamble cross-correlation, with peakvalues which constructively add on a second PLCP preamble as shown ininterval 988, and continuing to add in interval 990, each intervalcorresponding to the length of a PLCP preamble, such that subsequentcorrelation peak values I²+Q² increase coherently compared tosurrounding incoherent noise. In the presence of multipath reflection,the accumulated correlation waveforms 980 has a main correlation peak984 followed by multipath delay peak 982 of lower amplitude aspreviously described in FIG. 9D. In one example of the invention,variable threshold 950 may be adjusted to a higher value for moreaccurate packet detection at the expense of a longer packet detectiontime, or in another example of the invention, it may be adjusted to alower threshold value for a less accurate but earlier packet detection,and corresponding reduced power consumption. The packet detect output954 is asserted after several intervals where the accumulation peakresult exceeds threshold 950. In the present preferred embodimentcombining the periodic sampling of FIG. 5, it is desired to shorten theTpd 501 of FIG. 5 listening interval during which power is consumed whenno signal (or low likelihood of signal) is present. In contrast to theprior art, a packet detection threshold corresponding to a high falsealarm rate is selected and used in combination with a hierarchicalpreamble sampling interval which selectively continues preambledetection only when a high likelihood of preamble detection is presentfrom previous preamble detection interval. During the preamble samplingtime, if the correlation peaks are below a threshold setpoint, thepacket detection terminates early, thereby shortening the time thepreamble detect circuits are drawing power.

In another embodiment, the threshold 950 may be adjusted to a highthreshold value for high SNR (or low multi-path or low interferenceconditions) or a low value for low SNR (or high multipath or highinterferer) conditions. Generally, the invention provides an averagepower consumption ratio of approximately

$\frac{{2T_{pd}} + T_{pp}}{T_{preamble}}$compared to prior art preamble detection methods, with Tpd minimized byearly powerdown if the preamble accumulation values for any subsequentinterval are not satisfied. The result is to shorten the Tpd I1 of FIGS.6A and 6B after a preamble detection interval where thecross-correlation peak value does not exceed a threshold (such as in thepresence of noise, high amplitude multipath reflection, or a low SNR),and to continue applying power to the receiver and advancing to the nextaccumulation interval when the preamble detection threshold is crossedfor each particular preceding interval. The shortening of Tpd when nopreamble is present (and removal of the Tpp cycle since no preamble ispresent) of FIGS. 6A and 6B advantageously further reduces the powerconsumption of the receiver compared to fixed sampling intervals duringthe preamble listen intervals of FIGS. 6, 6A, and 6B when no signal ispresent. In summary, it is unexpectedly beneficial to set the thresholdfor a higher false alarm rate (increased false packet detection) appliedover a shortened preamble detection interval, combined with an earlypowerdown of the receiver when the preamble detection threshold is notcrossed, and to continue preamble detection when the threshold iscrossed for each interval, because the power penalty for maintaining thefront end operative during a fixed Tpd interval for assuring a low falsealarm rate is greatly offset by the power savings of using the resultduring a first detection interval to determine whether to use asubsequent detection interval and ultimately complete the preambledetection process if the threshold is crossed for all examinedintervals.

FIGS. 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, 11A, and 11B show an example method forreducing power consumption over a wide variety of SNR conditions for anexample 40 us preamble interval (corresponding to 440 preamble bits,each bit being an 11 bit barker code chip as before) being detected bycross correlation where over a 5 us (55 barker code chips, using theexample of 5 11 bit samples) with the threshold set for a high 20% falsepreamble detection rate which would be unacceptable in a conventionalWLAN system. In prior art communications systems, the false preambledetection rate (also known as “false alarm rate” FAR) for a preambledetector is typically 1 in 10⁴ (10⁻⁴) or less. In the present powersaving method, the false alarm rate (FAR) is increased by several ordersof magnitude, however, by examining increasingly longer segments ofpreamble and using a lower threshold associated with a greater falsealarm rate, coupled with examining in succession each preamble detectioninterval, it is possible to provide a 10⁻⁴ FAR by shortening thepreamble detection time when the preamble detection accumulatorthreshold is not met. In an example embodiment for 40 us of the 128 usof a long PLCP preamble of 802.11b or similar PLCP, the preambledetection is iteratively performed over a series of sample intervals,the start of each sample interval having these steps performed:

a) A preamble detection threshold is established for an FAR in the rangeof 1% to 50% (20% in the present example) for an example segment of PLCPpreamble (5 us being used in the present example for illustrationpurposes)

b) Cross correlation is performed on the first interval of PLCP preamblecomprising one or more PLCP symbols, accumulating each cross correlationresult in a successive location of a linear array accumulator, eachlocation corresponding to a bit position of a single PLCP preamblesymbol of the interval (such as 11 position accumulator for an 11 bitbarker code sampled at 11 Mhz, or 22 position accumulator for 22 Mhzsampling of the 11 bit barker code), and if the threshold for preambledetection is exceeded by the cross correlation peak result, theaccumulator of the preamble detector continues into a subsequentinterval, and if the threshold is not exceeded, the associated receiverpowers down until the next sample interval.

c) If the threshold for detection is crossed in the first interval ofPLCP preamble, then the preamble detector continues to operate andaccumulate cross correlation results for an additional interval such asthe sum of the first interval (such as 5 us) and second interval (suchas 5 us) continuing to cross correlate and accumulate over thesubsequent interval, and if the threshold for detection is exceeded bythe correlation result at the end of the second interval 1006(indicating detected preamble), the preamble detector continues into asubsequent interval, otherwise the associated receiver powers down untilthe next sample interval.

d) If the threshold for detection is exceeded at the end of the secondinterval 1006, then the preamble detector continues to operate andaccumulate cross correlation results for an additional third interval(1006 to 1008) of preamble, and if the threshold for detection isexceeded, the preamble detector either asserts preamble detect, orcontinues for a subsequent fourth interval.

e) While the process may optionally continue with increasingly longerintervals until the complete 128 us of preamble has been correlated andexamined, it is typically not necessary that to continue beyond thesecond or third interval spanning approximately 20 us for Tpd.

In another example embodiment of the invention, a preamble detector isoperative at the start of a series of repeating sample intervalscorresponding to Tpd of FIGS. 5, 6A and 6B, the preamble detector havinga linear accumulator for storing the accumulated result of crosscorrelation of an incoming symbol stream with a template PLCP symbol,the accumulator having accumulated cross correlation result locationsrelated to the number of bits in a preamble symbol length, theaccumulator reset at the start of each sample interval, the preambledetector operative over a plurality of intervals, at least onesubsequent interval longer than an earlier interval, the processcomprising:

at the start of each preamble sample interval, the preamble detectoroperative over a first interval which is longer than a single preamblesymbol, the preamble detector comparing the accumulator correlation peakvalue to a first interval threshold, and if the accumulator correlationpeak value does not exceed the first interval threshold, powering downthe preamble detector;

for any subsequent interval for which the accumulator peak correlationvalue does not exceed an associated interval threshold, powering downthe preamble detector, and if the accumulator peak correlation valueexceeds a corresponding threshold at the end of a final interval,asserting preamble detect if the correlation peak exceeds thecorresponding interval, or powering down without asserting preambledetect if the correlation peak does not exceed the correspondinginterval threshold.

It is understood that the term “cross-correlation peak value” is themaximum value resulting from the accumulation of previouscross-correlation operations, and an interval threshold may be formedfrom any of: the peak value of the correlation result accumulator isgreater than any non-peak value, the peak value of the correlationresult accumulator is greater than a second or third greatest peakvalue, or any comparison of the peak value to any other peak or non-peakvalue different than the peak value. Accordingly, the interval thresholdmay be set from the noise level of surrounding non-peak values, or theinterval threshold may be established from an average value of one ormore of the secondary peak values which are less than the maximum peakvalue.

The first interval, second interval, and any subsequent interval eachhave a duration which is a multiple m of a Barker code sequence having aduration B in time such that m*B<half of a preamble duration of 128 us,or 64 us. Typically, the first interval is approximately equal to thesecond interval, and the third interval is equal to the sum of the firstand second intervals, and an optional fourth interval is the sum of theduration of the intervals which precede it. In this manner, eachinterval from start to finish has a duration equal to the duration oftime from the start of the first interval to the start of the currentinterval, thereby doubling each sample interval from start to the end ofa particular interval with respect to previous intervals.

FIG. 10A shows an example for 802.11b PLCP preamble with a first 5 usinterval from 1002 to 1004, a second 5 us interval from 1004 to 1006, athird PLCP interval from 1006 to 1008, and a fourth PLCP interval from1008 to 1010, as previously described. FIG. 10B shows the hierarchicaldecision tree and false alarm likelihoods given a threshold set tocorrectly detect 80% of the PLCP preamble fragments and to false alarmdetect 20% of the PLCP preamble fragments. From 1002 to 1004, the first5 us of the PLCP are cross correlated and accumulated into a registerindicating each bit position of the correlation result for a singlebarker chip sequence, as shown in FIG. 9F, which would result in a falsepreamble detection 1022 20% of the time for the desired threshold 950.If the peak accumulation does not exceed the example 20% FAR threshold,the packet detection stops and the preamble detector powers down. If theaccumulator peak exceeds the example 20% FAR threshold, the preambledetection continues to a second 5 us interval from 1004 to 1006. At theend of the second interval 1006, using the threshold for a FAR of 20%over 5 us, the FAR is 0.2*0.2, or 4%. If the correlation peak value doesnot exceed the second interval threshold for the 5 us second interval atthe end of the second interval at 1006, the preamble detector powersdown, otherwise the third interval of an example 10 us duration isentered and completed at time 1008, and if the third interval thresholdis exceeded, packet detect is asserted, otherwise the preamble detectorpowers down. The false detection rate at the end of the third period isthen 0.2{circumflex over ( )}{circumflex over ( )}4=0.16%, which is anadequate false packet detection rate. Alternatively, at the end of thethird interval 1008, if the correlation peak exceeds the third intervalthreshold, the preamble detector may enter a fourth interval of 20 usending at 1010, with preamble detect asserted if the peak accumulatedthreshold exceeds a fourth interval threshold.

In this manner, the duration of time the preamble detector is enabledmay be shortened when the preamble cross correlation peak is not above athreshold, indicating weak signal. Furthermore, by selecting a highfalse alarm rate threshold, and shortening the cross correlation timewhen it is unlikely to detect a preamble, significant power savings maybe achieved with no reduction in false preamble detection, as thepreamble detector will continue to 0.16% FAR at the end of the thirdinterval at time 1008, or 0.0003% at the end of fourth interval at time1010. The various false preamble detect outcomes are shown in groupings1012, and the non-detection of preamble (correlation accumulation didnot exceed threshold) is shown as outcome 1016. The preamble false alarmrate is shown in the table of FIG. 10C, where 5 us of preamble resultsin 20% preamble FAR, which falls to 4% in 10 us of preamble, and to0.15% after 20 us of preamble, which should be sufficient in almost allcircumstances. Optionally, it is possible to continue for an examplefourth interval, with a 0.00003% false preamble detection after 40 us ofpreamble. A significant power savings comes about from disabling thepreamble detect by comparing the cross correlation peak with a lowthreshold associated with a high FAR to determine when to stop thepreamble detection early, thereby saving power by powering down thepreamble detector.

FIG. 10D shows a computation for the average amount of time the preambledetector is enabled according to the method of FIGS. 10A and 10B. Forthe examples of FIGS. 10A and 10B, the average time the preamble detect(PD) circuit is enabled is then 100% of the time for the first interval5 us, 20% of the time for the second interval of 5 us, 4% of the timefor the third interval of 10 us, and 0.16% of the time for the fourthinterval of 20 us. Multiplying this out for the example three intervalsresults in a 99.84% correct preamble detect, or for the example fourintervals results in a 99.9997% successful preamble detect rate with anaverage preamble detect enable time of 6.432 us (compared to 5 us ofPLCP with 80% preamble detect rate, or the prior art method of enablingthe preamble detector for 40 us resulting in the previous 99.9997%preamble detect rate). Each preamble detect event is subject tostochastic variations, for the above examples with a given FAR=20 for a5 us preamble segment, the average number of preamble bits for thepreamble detector to be enabled before a detected preamble occurs andpower down is asserted for a given FAR (0<FAR<1) using 5 us (5 11 bitbarker code chip times) is:Avg_pream_time=5 us+5 us*FAR+10 us*FAR²+20 us*FAR⁴More generally for intervals which double with respect to start of thepacket for each subsequent interval:Avg_pream_time=Tint1+Tint1*FAR+2*Tint1*FAR²+4*Tint*FAR⁴where Tint1 is the interval time being doubled for each subsequentinterval, and FAR is the false alarm rate (false packet detect rate) forthe interval Tint1 alone.

FIG. 11A shows a series of probability density functions (PDF) on the yaxis for a high SNR versus a decision threshold metric such as ratio ofpeak accumulated cross-correlation to average accumulatedcross-correlation in non-peak areas on the x axis. Accordingly, thex-axis is not subject to an upper limit, and a reference metric of 0.2118 is shown for comparison purposes. FIG. 12 may provide insight intothe operation of the current invention in its most general form. Plots1102, 1114, and 1104 show “noise only” probability density functions forpreamble detection, with plot 1104 showing the result of more averaging(longer cross correlation accumulation) and plot 1102 showing lessaveraging (shorter cross correlation accumulation). Similarly, plots1108, 1116, and 1106 show probability density functions for preambledetect signal+noise, for example the case where signal=noise, or 0 dbSignal to Noise Ratio (SNR). Plot 1108 shows the result of lessaveraging (shorter cross correlation accumulation), and plot 1106 showsthe result of more averaging (longer cross correlation accumulation).For a given threshold metric (such as threshold 0.2 1118 as shown) and agiven amount of averaging (such as noise PDF plot 1114 or Signal+NoisePDF plot 1516, the area 1110 below the noise only plot 1114 representsthe false alarm rate (FAR), where noise with no associated preamblesignal has caused the preamble detector to incorrectly assert preambledetect, and the area 1112 below signal+noise plot 1116 which is belowthreshold 1118 represents the missed detect rate (MDR), representingpreamble signal that was not detected because it fell below thethreshold level. In the description of operation for the presentinvention, a threshold 1118 associated with the threshold 950 of FIG. 9Awhich results in a 20% false alarm rate (FAR) of preamble detect output954 for a 5 us PLCP preamble sequence in a series of 5 802.11 Barkercode preamble sequences such as would be found in a beacon framepreamble. FIG. 11B shows the same plots for a high SNR, with a greaterseparation in Signal+Noise PDF from the noise only PDF curves andbounded areas as described in FIG. 11A.

FIG. 12 shows an example preamble detection process where step 1202establishes the packet detect threshold based on an exemplar 20% FARover the first interval such as 5 us, and the first 5 us of preamble arecross correlated in step 1204. The cross correlation of the first 5 usof the preamble result in a cross correlation peak value in step 1204.If the cross correlation peak does not cross the first intervalthreshold in step 1206, the preamble detector powers down 1222 until thestart of the next sample interval, otherwise the process continues andthe next 5 us of the preamble are cross correlated and accumulated 1208,and a peak value is found and compared to the second interval thresholdin step 1210. If the peak cross correlation accumulator value does notexceed the second interval threshold, the preamble detector powers downin step 1222, otherwise the cross correlation and accumulation continuesfor the next 10 us in step 1212, and the accumulated cross correlationpeak value is compared to the threshold in step 1214. If the peak valuesis below the third interval threshold, the preamble detector powers downin step 1222 until the next sample interval, otherwise preamble detectmay be asserted at this point (corresponding to the 0.16% FAR (or 99.84%correct packet detection) of FIGS. 10A and 10C). Alternatively, theprocess may continue in step 1216 with a fourth interval of crosscorrelation and accumulation, resulting in a peak value which iscompared to a fourth interval threshold in step 1218, resulting ineither the assertion of preamble detect in step 1220 (with 0.00026% FARor 99.99974% correct packet detection), or powerdown in step 122 with nopreamble detection.

The examples of the present invention are shown for illustration only,and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention to only thoseexamples described. For example, there are many different time durationsassociated with AGC lock, CFO estimation, channel estimation, andpreamble detection. The example PLL settling time of approximately 6 us,the example packet detection which includes CFO, Rake training, channelestimation, and packet detection may be approximately 28 us. A durationof “approximately” x is understood to be in the range ½x to 2x.Substantially is understood to be in the range of +/−50% of the nominalvalue.

I claim:
 1. A method for a reduced power consumption preamble detectorin a wireless station for reception of a beacon frame, the preambledetector operative to have a false packet detect rate greater thanrequired for reliable packet detection, the method comprising: upon theexpected arrival of a beacon frame, the wireless station entering into arepetitive series of preamble detection cycles, each preamble detectioncycle comprising a preamble detection interval followed by a sleepinterval, each sleep interval having a duration equal to a preambleduration minus the sum of two times the preamble detection interval plusa preamble processing interval; upon detection of a preamble during apreamble detection cycle, the preamble detector operative to continue toperform preamble detection for a series of intervals of increasinglength in a conditional hierarchy, each interval of the conditionalhierarchy of longer duration than a preceding interval; where if apreamble is not detected in any segment of the conditional hierarchy,the preamble detector entering a sleep mode until a subsequent expectedarrival of a beacon frame; and where, when a preamble is detectedthrough the conditional hierarchy interval, packet detect is asserted.2. The method of claim 1 where the preamble detector is operative todetect a Barker sequence.
 3. The method of claim 1 where the preambledetector cross correlates received signal samples against a bit patternformed from the bits of a Barker code of equal length of a receivedpreamble symbol to detect a preamble.
 4. The process of claim 1 wherethe preamble processing interval is the time required by the preambleprocessor to perform at least one of: channel equalization, centerfrequency offset correction, and rake training.
 5. The method of claim 1where the preamble detector comprises an accumulation register whichaccumulates the cross correlation result of correlating incomingreceived samples against a Barker code, the accumulation register resetat the beginning of each preamble detection interval, the accumulatorhaving a threshold which increases with each successive interval, thepreamble detector disabled if the accumulator does not exceed athreshold at the end of an interval and continues to cross correlate andaccumulate if the accumulator exceeds a threshold at the end of aninterval.
 6. The method of claim 5 where the preamble detector includesa receiver part, a PLL part, a cross correlator part, and a comparisonpart where the receiver part, cross correlator part, and comparison partreceives power a PLL delay after the PLL part.
 7. The method of claim 1where the preamble detector has a false alarm rate of at least 20%during a first interval of the conditional hierarchy.
 8. A process forpreamble detection in a wireless receiver receiving beacon frames, theprocess operative on a receiver having an RF receiver, PLL components, apreamble detector, and a preamble processor, the PLL components having asettling time, the preamble detector having a preamble sensing intervaland a preamble processing interval, the process comprising: identifyingan expected preamble arrival time; at the expected preamble arrivaltime, repetitively cycling power on during a preamble detection intervaland off during a sleep interval, where during the preamble detectioninterval power is applied to the RF components and preamble detector,and where during the sleep interval, power is removed from the RFcomponents and preamble detector; and where power to the PLL componentsis applied a PLL settling time prior to the preamble detection intervaland also throughout the preamble detection interval, and power to thePLL components is removed during the sleep interval; the preambledetection interval comprising the time required to detect the presenceof a preamble with a high false detection rate, the preamble processingtime comprising the time required to perform at least one of channelequalization, center frequency offset correction, or rake training; thesleep interval being substantially equal to a preamble duration less twotimes the preamble sensing time and less the preamble processing time;when a preamble is detected, the preamble detector continuouslyoperative for a series of increasing time intervals of a conditionalhierarchy; where, if a preamble detection does not occur at the end ofany interval of the conditional hierarchy, the preamble detector and RFreceiver are put into a sleep mode until the next expected preamblearrival time; and where, if a preamble detection occurs through each ofthe intervals of the conditional hierarchy, a preamble detection signalis asserted.
 9. The process of claim 8 where the expected beacon framesarrive at 100 ms intervals.
 10. The process of claim 8 where thepreamble detector has at least a 20% false alarm rate over a firstinterval of the conditional hierarchy.
 11. The process of claim 8 wherethe preamble sensing time is at least the minimum time required to sensea preamble.
 12. The process of claim 8 where the preamble processingtime is the time required by the preamble processor to perform at leastone of: channel equalization, center frequency offset correction, andrake training.
 13. The process of claim 8 where the preamble detector isoperative to detect a Barker code.
 14. The process of claim 13 where thepreamble detector is operative to cross correlate incoming samples witha Barker code to form a cross correlation result compared with athreshold at the end of each conditional hierarchy interval to detect apreamble.
 15. The process of claim 8 where the preamble detector crosscorrelates incoming samples with a Barker code, the cross correlationresult applied to a threshold detector with a threshold which is set toa threshold value corresponding to a false alarm rate of 20% or more forthe first interval of the conditional hierarchy.
 16. The process ofclaim 8 where each successive interval of the conditional hierarchy issubstantially twice the length of a previous interval.
 17. A preambledetect controller operative to detect a preamble of a beacon frame, thepreamble detect controller comprising: a beacon frame arrival estimatoridentifying an expected beacon frame arrival time; a preamble detectoroperative to have a high false preamble detection rate over a preamblesymbol interval; at an expected beacon frame arrival time, the preambledetect controller repetitively enabling the preamble detector for apreamble detection interval followed by a sleep interval, and where,during the preamble detection interval, power is applied to RFcomponents, preamble detector components, and preamble processorcomponents for a preamble detection interval, and if no preamble isdetected during the preamble detection interval, removing power from thePLL components, RF components, preamble detector components and preambleprocessor components during a sleep interval which follows the preambledetection interval; and where the sleep interval is equal to or lessthan a preamble duration less the sum of two times the preambledetection interval and a preamble processing interval; and where, upondetection of a preamble for a beacon frame, power remains applied to thePLL components, RF components, packet detection components and preambleprocessor for each of the intervals of a conditional hierarchy unless apreamble is not detected at the end of any conditional hierarchyintervals, thereby causing the power to be removed until a subsequentexpected beacon arrival time; and where, upon detection of preamble at afinal conditional hierarchy interval, packet detect is asserted.
 18. Thepreamble detector of claim 17 where each conditional hierarchy intervalis longer than a previous conditional hierarchy interval when a preambleis detected at the end of a previous conditional hierarchy interval. 19.The preamble detector of claim 17 where each subsequent preambledetection interval is substantially twice the duration of a previouspreamble detection interval when a preamble is detected at the end of aprevious conditional hierarchy interval.
 20. The preamble detector ofclaim 17 where the preamble detector is operative to detect a Barkercode.
 21. The preamble detector of claim 17 where the high falsepreamble detection rate is at least 20%.
 22. The preamble detector ofclaim 17 where the preamble detector cross correlates received valuesagainst a PLCP template to form a correlation result, the correlationresult compared to a threshold.
 23. The preamble detector of claim 21where if a preamble detection interval provides a correlation valuewhich is greater than the threshold, a new threshold is established andthe correlation continues for a subsequent interval which is double thepreamble detection interval.
 24. The preamble detector of claim 17 wherethe preamble detector is operative in a conditional hierarchy, eachsubsequent preamble interval operative for twice the length of aprevious preamble interval, and the preamble detect controller removespower to the preamble detector, receiver, and PLL controller if thepreamble detector does not detect a preamble at the end of a conditionalhierarchy interval until a subsequent expected beacon interval.